Finlay's train and Finlay's ice cream

Finlay at Haagen Dasz at the market, excited, because his ice cream is on the way, and Finlay with his big Nikolaus present - a train set.

More to follow over the holidays and merry Christmas!

A Christmas Stroll

Here is Finlay in his stroller just having picked up a Nikolaus-gift from Annette, and then meeting his first Santa. In my family, we did the shopping-mall Santa photo tradition, and in none of mine do I have an expression quite like this...

December 6

December 6 is the day in Germany where Nikolaus brings children (and adults) gifts, but only if they leave their shoes in front of the door overnight (comparable to the North American stockings tradition on Christmas Eve). Finlay decided to leave a lot of shoes, just in case. Nikolaus obliged...

Grandma - and a sweater!

Finlay on a teeter-totter with his Grandma Cathy, visiting from Canada, and Finlay in a new handmade sweater that she knit for him.

Advent calendar, Finlay and sofa

Two pictures from the first week of December - Finlay with an advent calendar on our wall and Finlay smiling standing by the sofa.

Marmelade...

Finlay with a roll and marmelade one recent morning for breakfast. Right after this photo, he insisted that the cats also share the marmelade, and half of it ended up pasted to a cat.

Advent No. 1

Finlay with the first advent candle 4 weeks before Christmas. Note the playmobil firetrucks in case anything goes wrong. Finlay kept saying "The fire department can do it!" (Die Feuerwehr, die kann das!)

Finlay on a bus

Between Belfast and Dublin. That's Clifford the Red Dog in the background, and a small English shortbread cookie - forgotten - in Finlay's hand.

More Finlay on the shore

Finlay on a hill near the Irish sea, and Finlay & Co. on the shore, right before a large wave caught Christopher and soaked him from the knees down. Finlay thought that was all very exciting.

Northern Ireland

Sorry about the delay in posting. Work, holiday obligations and various trips and visits got in the way.

Here are two photos of Finlay visiting the Irish Sea, or, more specifically, Bangor, next to Belfast in Northern Ireland at the end of November. We were hosted by Joan and John, who did everything possible to ensure that we saw a great deal of the area and enjoyed remarkable hospitality. Thank you to John and Joan for accommodations, dinners and fascinating discussions, and for Clifford the Red Dog, which has become Finlay's favourite stuffed animal.

Here we are with Joan at the shore of the ocean.